


Shades

by Cardgamesonmotorcycles



Category: Free!
Genre: Hair, Hair Dyeing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-23
Updated: 2013-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-30 06:45:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cardgamesonmotorcycles/pseuds/Cardgamesonmotorcycles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako just wants the answer to one simple question, blue or black?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shades

It’s definitely not blue, I’m sure of that.  
Rei’s hair is blue. Like ink in an expensive fountain pen.  
In the water it looks black, but everyones hair gets darker in water, Nagisa goes dirty blonde, I go brown, Rin goes darker red, almost burgundy.  
And yet it’s not black.  
When it dries on the rare, unpopular occasions where he is out of the water, stood cooking mackrel in his kitchen, it looks black.  
But walking to school in the sun, head turned to watch the ocean lap gently against the shore, it has an unmistakable blue shine.  
I’ve spent so long staring at the back of his head that I haven’t realised we’re at his house and he is stood in front of his door, staring at me with unwavering sea blue eyes.  
I bid him a hasty goodbye, stumbling over my words. Hoping he didn’t notice me staring.  
The question haunts me all night.  
Such a simple question, but one without an easy answer.  
I think maybe I should just ask him. He’d know. It is his hair, after all.  
But.. the apathetic swimmer would give me that look, the one that says it’s such a strange thing to ask he won’t answer.  
Then I still wouldn’t know.  
I know there are dyes that colour, some German brand I can’t remember the name of.  
But he doesn’t seem the type to dye his hair. And it’s been that colour forever.  
Maybe I could ask Gou or Miss Ama-Chan, women have an eye for things like this.  
But the longer I stare and wonder, the longer I wonder if maybe it isn’t blue or black.  
Maybe it is both.  
An unaturally occuring phenomenon known only in him.  
This thought makes me smile.  
Just one more thing that makes him special.  
He turns and sees me smiling as I stare at him, raising an eyebrow that says he caught me, and silently asking what I want.  
I stare at him a moment longer, eyes distracted by the way the bright sun shows up the blue tint through the black, yet somehow in it too.  
I end up blurting it out, stupidly, hastily.  
Yet he doesn’t give me the look.  
Instead he smiles that small half smile of his, the one that makes the world seem brighter.  
He asks me what colour I think it is, saying he’s never thought about it.  
I tell him my theory, missing out the soppy part about him being special. But I think my eyes communicate it as he steps closer, telling me to get a better look.  
It seems I’m right, up close each strand is somehow black and yet blue at the same time.  
I smile as he moves so close I can smell his scent, saltwater and chlorine.  
He is shorter than me, as he always has been.  
He looks up at me, blue eyes sparkling, as if there were a pool nearby, though the ocean is too cold for swimming and the pool at school is shut.  
I say his name nervously, hesitantly as he stretches up til our eyes are level, even though he is on tip-toe to achieve this.  
He smiles at me again and leans closer to place a gentle kiss on my lips.  
He draws back again, shrinking back to his normal height.  
He tells me he likes my theory, averting his eyes as a light blush spreads on his pale cheeks.  
I can’t help but smile at this, the side of him that is shy and almost girl-like.  
As we continue to walk along, he makes no complaint as I take his slender hand in my own and intertwine our fingers, moving so we are walking shoulder to shoulder.  
I think this was the only answer I needed.


End file.
